- Sandhya Menon
- 7th published book; Book 2 of a Series-Rosetta Academy
- Genre: YA Contemporary Fairy tale Retelling
- Heritage/Background: Indian-American
- IG: @sandhyamenonbooks; Twitter: @smenonbooks
- Website: http://www.sandhyamenon.com/
- Release: 6/8/2021 (You don’t have to wait! YAY!)
- Publisher: Simon Pulse
- Favorite Character: Jaya! She served as the voice of reason and kept it real while preserving others feelings (a balance that can be quite tough to strike)! She was the main character in the first book in the series so it was so good to see her again! My fav from the first book only made cameos because of stuff that went down in the first!
- Favorite Quote(s): “So you can go Falk yourself. And I’ll bring my own prince.”-Caterina. I felt the mic drop in my SPIRIT with this line!
I’m going to start this by saying that no one is surprised that this post exists…for those who have been rolling with me for a while, know how much I love Sandhya Menon…her books bring light when my spirit feels dark! She’s just so awesome! I’m also really excited to be a part of the Blog tour for Of Princes Of Promises, which is the second book in the Rosetta Academy series, with some of my fellow Sandhya’s Sweethearts Street teammers (see the schedule here)! I posted a reel in celebration of OPAP‘s release on IG, you can watch here (It’s super cute, if I do say so myself). Anddd In case you wanted to read my blog post about the first book, Of Curses And Kisses, you can read it here!
If you’re like me, you love a good retelling and OPAP is a great retelling…This one being the Frog Prince! Even more so than that, I was getting Steve Urkel to Stefan Urquelle in Family Matters vibes at times, which I adored! Rahul was the Steve/Stefan that I never knew I needed and Caterina was the Laura Winslow I never saw coming! For my younger readers, who may not know, Family Matters was that show and you should watch some episodes of it. And Nope, I don’t care if I’m dating myself because that was quality TV but I digress, lol. It also gave Nick Cannon & Christina Milan in Love Don’t Cost A Thing but with the guy doing the favor for the girl (if you are familiar with the movie). If you are into transformations/Make overs, OPAP is definitely the book for you as it was for me!
Before I get to talking about the 2 characters I really want to talk about, I’m going to say that even though this is a part of a series, this book stands all on its own. You could read OPAP before reading Of Curses And Kisses or after, or just read it alone and it will aye-okay. However, I will say that things will click in terms of character relationships, narratives and some background stories if you do read OCAK then OPAP. There are Easter eggs for this book in OCAK and a bit for the 3rd book in the series, which of course OPAP has some for as well (And to answer your question, yes, I’m very excited for that book too). If you are like me, you like re-entering worlds so you may enjoy reading OCAK first. Either way, you’d be golden!
I have to start by talking about my loveable and socially awkward know it all Rahul! We didn’t see so much of him in OCAK but enough to know that he would be an interesting character to watch. He’s a no nonsense, tell it like it is type…something we all know I value in a character! Rahul has such a hard time reading the room that he really doesn’t even bother to until it’s slightly too late! He deadpans so much during the book that I really couldn’t help giggling whenever he spoke. Rahul is the friend that says what everyone is thinking but doesn’t want to be the first one to say it and thinks nothing of it until someone points it out that mayyyybe, it wasn’t the time. Think of Steve Urkel going “Did IIIIIIIII dooooo thaaaaaattttttt?” but without the humor, and you basically got some of Rahul’s moments! He has a mind only a motherly type, like Jaya, could love and wants others to love too. Rahul was gifted with a friend circle that is really dope & caring that does love his quirky self (you actually get an intro to them in OCAK).
When Rahul undergoes his “transformation”, he’s super swoon-worthy like Stefan. Suddenly, Rahul goes from that deadpanner to smooth talker and its enough to give you whiplash! Since books tend to play out like movies in my mind, the “transformation” gave me that moment when Stefan walked out of Steve’s transformation machine (see gif below)! I don’t want to get into the “change” though cause I don’t want to give away the book! Anywayz, you gotta read the book to see what kind of transformation he goes through (I personally love Rahul as is but you can form your own opinion when you meet him)!
So when it comes to Caterina, she was NOT my favorite in OCAK…she was very far from a favorite actually…….. but she changed my mind (which is really hard to do). We see such a different side of her, one I think Jaya knew was there but everyone else had to see to believe. Caterina has basically everything and yet, faces quite a few dilemmas, one of the biggest being could she be vulnerable & how deep could that vulnerability go! We see from her interactions with people, including the ones she considered “friends”, that she has this very clear but thick wall up that was hard to knock down. I went into reading this book thinking that I wouldn’t be able to relate at all to Caterina but related so much to this aspect of her the most…yep, my mind was blown too and if you have read OCAK, you may feel the same! She also was like a wealthy Italian Glow Up Laura Winslow at points, which I both loved and hated. She had the brains and the beauty, the things one would admire about Laura Winslow but also the attitude and air of superiority that would make you despise her. But like I said, she changed my mind and I’m actually excited to see her in book 3 (who have I become?! O_O)!
Y’all, it’s really hard to talk about second books in a series because you really worry about giving away too much! I also didn’t anticipate drawing such a big parallel between OPAP and Family Matters (it just bees that way sometimes). I really enjoyed this book and like All of Sandhya’s books, I ate this one up pretty quickly. It made me feel a bit nostalgic with the Laura/Steve Urkel vibes and it made me incredibly happy (which is why I used so many Family Matters gifs in this post)! I’m willing to bet that if you read OPAP and have watched Family Matters, you will agree too! If the Rosetta Academy series wasn’t on your radar, I hope it will be now and you decide to pick it up, either from your local library or your favorite bookstore!
I’ll end it here but of course, you are always welcome to come find me on these e-streets on the social medias: Instagram @bookishgirlmagic, Twitter @bookishgrlmagic and Clubhouse @bookishgrlmagic where you can typically find me in book centered clubs/rooms! I’m sending you all tons of bookish love and wishing you the happiest of reading days! Ciao!
Bookish Girl Magic 